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Shadbolt, Tim

In recent years, the Mayor of Invercargill has said some very conservative things, for an ex-radical protester. He seems to have tucked away his ‘stirring stick’ and adopted the mantle of an atrophying rightwinger, attacking the Clark government over many things. Shadbolt is a natural zig-zagger though and two of his recent pronouncements show that somewhere beneath that Tory-suit he has pulled on, there still beats a heart with at least a drop of red blood in it with perhaps the hint of green in there as well.

Exhibit A – (from his ‘In the Hot seat’ column)

“This week I’m wrestling with carbon emissions and I believe the answer lies in the soil which is not in a steady state, but is crying out for more carbon.”

“The possibility of nuclear fallout over Southland if Australia converted to nuclear power would be discussed at the next civil defence meeting, Invercargill Mayor and civil defence deputy chairman Tim Shadbolt said.”

5 thoughts on “Shadbolt, Tim”

And isn’t that part of the problem for the Greens? All parliamentary parties have made environmental policies central to their sales pitch. And in so many cases their policies aren’t even all that different to the Green Party. Take climate change. This hasn’t been a point of differentiation for the Greens, and although it’s now taken as a major political issue it hasn’t led to any additional public support for the Greens.

And, by the way, don’t forget that Tim Shadbolt was a candidate for New Zealand First in the mid-1990s. He’s basically a populist anti-establishment protester who now is part of the establishment.

Nice comment Bryce – you’ve got Tim pinned. Populist. Yes he is. Climate change though – this remains a point of differention for the Greens,(they’re the only ones with a real grasp of what is happening) only it’s all gone subterranean and I imagine there is a great deal of robust work being done between Labour and the Greens to come up with a working model. They’ll have to get busy on it though. Time’s ticking away.